Listen to this record despite the list of "professional reviews" compiled above. Lou Reed is an aquired taste and an iconoclast, therefore, doing something so foolish as using conventional pop standards to judge him is impossible. Even without drums this 2003-edition Lou set is hypnotizingly intense. This is his artsy-fartsy side, and for a change, he pulls it off brilliantly. I like Listen to this record despite the list of "professional reviews" compiled above. Lou Reed is an aquired taste and an iconoclast, therefore, doing something so foolish as using conventional pop standards to judge him is impossible. Even without drums this 2003-edition Lou set is hypnotizingly intense. This is his artsy-fartsy side, and for a change, he pulls it off brilliantly. I like feedback-drenched Lou myself, but he never cared what any of us liked anyway. More power to him.…Collapse

30 years after Rock n'Roll Animal, Lou Reed proves he's still an animal on stage - though tamed and less ferocious. Still, Reed at his (almost) best, apart from some very strange versions of his Velvet themes and an unnecessary Fernando Saunders song.

How ever you slice it, Lou Reed is a singularity. As his stated mission was to inform Rock'n'Roll with the same depth as great liturature, one can conclude that he has succeeded here. Sure, his guitar playing isn't to all tastes but neither was Carl Sandburgs. Nevertheless it is effective...and that voice is that of the Big Narrator. Songs of Expirience indeed! Mr.Fripp-the How ever you slice it, Lou Reed is a singularity. As his stated mission was to inform Rock'n'Roll with the same depth as great liturature, one can conclude that he has succeeded here. Sure, his guitar playing isn't to all tastes but neither was Carl Sandburgs. Nevertheless it is effective...and that voice is that of the Big Narrator. Songs of Expirience indeed! Mr.Fripp-the Band as mobile intellegence unit is here...and Lou Reed has it!…Expand